I know I should be unbiased and objective. But art is subjective ya’ll and I have my faves. And this artist, dear Artsies, is one of them. If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you’ve seen her work before. If you’re new, well then I’m happy to introduce you! Jacksonville, FL ( soon to be Athens, GA ) artist Christina Foard continues to amaze me each time she puts brush to canvas.
Christina creates work that is so incredibly layered with texture and color, with physical and visual depth, photos on a digital screen barely do them justice. Not to mention size– Christina often works on a large scale, Sliding Falls, 3rd down is downright monumental at over eight feet wide.
There is so much to see, so much to take in on each canvas, your eye almost isn’t sure where to begin. But once you dive in, it is so wonderful to get lost in beautifully interconnecting lines and shapes. Your eye will eventually find its way through to the lovely, light filled swaths of color, a beautiful respite among the glorious chaos.
If you’d like to see more of Christina Foard’s latest work, please visit her website. If you’re in North Florida, Christina will be showing work in the upcoming Our Shared Past exhibition at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, opening December 17th.
At the end of our traveling, I think it might be interesting for Mr. Forager & I to map out all of our journeys, connecting the places we’ve lived and visited. As we enter into our 3rd year of traveling together, I have a feeling our map might eventually look like one of these mixed media pieces. San Francisco artist Mel Prest uses an eccentric system to plot out grids of dots corresponding to Japanese metro routes, connecting the dots to reveal a complex system of connections.
Grid points are based on spelling out map relationships as Japanese characters. The artist connects the grid points, including mistaken lines ( in gold ) so that the mistake, instead of detracting from the beauty, adds to it.
I am especially intrigued by this aspect of Prest’s work. Although the path we take or the place where we find ourselves wasn’t necessarily what we wanted or intended, it can still add meaning and beauty to our life’s journey.
Well, it’s that time of year again! The folks at Pantone have made their pronouncement predicting the color that will be most on trend for the coming year. The Color of the Year 2014 is.. drumroll.. Radiant Orchid!
I’ll admit, at first I was underwhelmed. I haven’t been a huge fan of purples since Christmas 1985 in which every single gift I received was of a lavender hue. It was the favorite color of my 13 year old self, but I eventually tired of it and moved on, pretty much abandoning it forever. But once this news got out, I decided to do a little foraging for color amongst the art on my Pinterest boards and what ho, I spy a bunch of this very shade!
So maybe my inner 13 year old is subconsciously seeping through into my pins. Or, more likely, these artists know what Pantone folks have discovered– this particular shade, dubbed Radiant Orchid, is much more versatile than it may seem upon first glance.
It can be soft and feminine, as its floral moniker implies. These artists know that pairing this color with creamy neutrals and fellow floral shades creates a feeling of delicate suppleness.
When paired with darker shades and jewel tones, Radiant Orchid takes on a rich, earthy quality. Pairing such a feminine color with more heavy, masculine tones makes these abstract pieces perfectly balanced.
And of course, artists know when to capitalize on a color’s inherent pop factor. In the work below, these artists have used Radiant Orchids bright and bold sensibility to bring vibrant fearlessness to their work.
Are you a fan of this lavender shade? If you’re an artist, are you using it in your current work or have plans to try to incorporate it in 2014? Designers & consultants, think your clients will be itching for artwork to incorporate this color into their interiors? Artsy minds want to know!
All image sources are linked above. Some images are cropped details of the original.
When an artist chooses to concentrate their attention on one certain subject, I’m always amazed by the diversity of ways in which they explore that form. Especially when an artist is seeking to look beyond representation to abstraction. In this series of Minerale paintings by Italian artist Sara Maragotto, the artist delves into the world of rocks, examining their opposing qualities of solidity and vulnerability.
We think of mountains and rocks as solid, immovable objects. But they have their vulnerabilities, just like everything else on this earth. Rocks can break and erode, sometimes quickly, but more often slowly over long periods of time.
In this series of mixed media paintings, I see Sara Maragotto, examining these characteristics in an abstract way. She retains the hard, sharp lines and surfaces, yet diffuses them with soft brushstrokes and washes of color. We can see what may be a weaker area beneath the surface, ready for exploitation by water or wind. I have no idea if this is what the artist had in mind when creating these works, but it is what my own eye has found. What do you see?
As most of you know, Mr. F and I find ourselves in a new spot every three to six months and each time requires a bit of effort to get settled into our new adobe. Add to the upcoming Christmas holiday & all that entails into the mix and we had a recipe for a busy, not so relaxing weekend!
The pared down possessions we travel with means there is no room to carry holiday decor around with us, but we always find a way to do a bit of budget & space friendly decorating ( more on that later this week! ). Now this little apartment in the snow feels so much more cozy and Christmas-y.
our sweet little tree & snow covered view
a forager must have glittery pine cones!
While Mr. F did fun stuff like getting the oil changed & changing over our renter’s insurance ( told you, big fun! ), I was busy doing a live podcast for iCreateFlix ( listen here ) in which I chatted with host Cara Rae about how Artsy Forager came about, the way the artist/gallery relationship is changing, how artists can use social media to promote their work and of course, gushing about how much I love Pinterest. My interview for the Thriving Artist Summit also went live yesterday! ( Get access here, only available now through Wednesday 12/11! )
it wasn’t all fun & decorating
But as the darkness was setting in on Sunday evening, the errands had been run and the business taken care of and we were finally able to settle in and relax in our new home. There may have been a little slow dancing involved..
mr. f got his cooking mojo back
beer experiments, always a fun way to end the weekend
The holidays can be such a hectic time of year, making time to slow down and enjoy each other helps to bring everything back into perspective, doesn’t it?
As you may have noticed if you read my recap of the past few weeks, we’ve experienced a myriad of climates and landscapes recently. While the sunny skies of Southern California were a welcome sight, there is still something so enchanting about the starkness of winter branches against a cloudy sky. It seems ironic then, that these paintings by Los Angeles artist Jill Sykes should remind me so much of wonderfully overcast days.
When the sun is high in the sky, of course, it creates the most lovely shadows. Yet sometimes it feels as if the individual forms of the landscape get lost in the blue. On a day filled with clouds, though, everything stands in deep contrast with the whites and greys. The individual branches of each tree are so much more pronounced, we can see the world without the distraction of color. As lovely as any old black and white film.
The way Sykes silhouettes her branches creates an intriguing tension between the subject and background. Leaving us to wonder in some cases which is which.
If you’d like to see more of Jill Sykes‘ work, please visit her website.
Do you ever feel like life isn’t quite real? Like you’re sleep walking or drifting in and out of a surreal existence. Occasionally, I get the strangest sense of deja vu. Its like finding yourself in a place you experienced in a dream, but this time in reality. These photographs by Finnish artist Nanna Hanninen have that same kind of unreal fluidity.
Her figures are obscured, seeming to float on the surface, wandering in and out of the frame. I feel like there’s a parallel somewhere for our lives, the way we roam from place to place, whether physically, mentally or spiritually. How often do we find ourselves in one place, but feeling like we belong to another? We are physically present but the mind and soul are elsewhere. It happens, too, in our daily interactions. Are we truly present in each and every conversation? Or are we allowing ourselves to be someplace else?
Tomorrow’s the day, ya’ll! I’m making my “appearance” at the Thriving Artist Summit tomorrow December 9th, sharing my tips and thoughts on how artists can use tools like blogs and social media to promote their work, as well as insight into Artsy Forager, tips for approaching galleries, and more!
The interview will be available for 72 hours but if you can’t listen in the next few days, you’ll be able to catch a replay at a later date, but you have to register for access! You can do so by clicking the image above. Please share with your artsy friends!
It has been so long, but I’m finally back with a recap of what Mr. Forager & I were up to these past few weeks. It was a roller coaster ride, for sure! The Friday before we were to leave WA, Mr. F thought he had a job in Ellensburg, WA sealed up, just waiting on the contract to be sent over. We waited and waited and finally got fed up and called the facility who’d wanted to hire him only to find out they’d changed their minds! So now we were leaving WA on a Saturday morning with no idea whether he would have a new contract at the end of our road trip. Stress!! But we decided to make the most of our trip anyway, taking a leisurely drive down the Oregon Coast. *Note: The Coast is beautiful anytime of year, but would have been much more enjoyable in summer. Brrr!
canon beach, oregon
We got in a cold but enjoyable walk along Canon Beach and made it to our car seconds before the downpour began. Trying to be budget minded on this trip, we tent camped the first night– we survived ( our sleeping bags are rated to 23 degrees ) but the wind ensured that Mr. F’s side of the tent, which is a bit more suited to backpacking in summer, got wet. That, combined with my whining, put the kibosh on the tent camping! We kept making our way down the Coast at a leisurely pace, stopping in Manzanita, Pacific City, Florence and a few other coastal towns I can’t recall at the moment!
view from a coastal town i can’t remember the name of!
So much beauty to behold, you really need more like a month to make this trip, not the week that we gave ourselves. Despite the cold and rain, we loved every minute of it. We discovered the joys of yurt camping ( totally the way to go in Oregon ) and chatting with locals. Once we hit California, we figured out that we’d perhaps been a bit too leisurely going through Oregon, so had to make up some time. Mr. F also was able to secure another contract to begin in Idaho after Thanksgiving. I was a little bummed, not that Mr. F got a job because yay! but because I’d already been looking at rental prospects for the area and well, they were bleak. So some stress was added back into our fun.
We drove through stands of giant redwoods and inhaled the scent of eucalyptus through much of the Northern California coast. We spent the night in a hostel at Pt. Reyes, arriving at dusk and leaving just after dawn, so all we were able to see of Pt. Reyes itself was through a thick layer of fog. Bummer. But the little town of Pt. Reyes Station was a sweet little artsy spot, definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in the area. We continued our journey over the Golden Gate Bridge, heading for our next destination, Big Sur.
golden gate through the rain
But before we hit Big Sur, I had always wanted to see Carmel, so we stopped for a bite of lunch and a good leg stretching. I’d read about the architecture and charm of Carmel years ago and had always longed to see it. Let me assure you, it did not disappoint! Such a lovely little spot filled with fairy tale cottages.
carmel by the sea
And then came Big Sur. This place totally enchanted us. The friends we were headed to visit told us it was their favorite place and now we understand why. It is the most “Northwest” feeling of all the places we’ve been in California so far. We camped in a tent cabin along the banks of the Big Sur River and drove along Highway 1 with our mouths agape.
The clouds continued until we hit Santa Barbara and then it was like BOOM you are now in Southern California where the sun is always shining! After nearly a week of cold rain, it was a welcome change! Thanks to stopping in at the SB Visitors Center, we scored a nice deal on a sweet little boutique hotel for the night. Off we went in search of dinner and stumbled upon the Santa Barbara Funk Zone, a fun change after the more touristy center of town. But the best part was knowing that after a few hours of driving the next day, we would reach our friends in San Diego and be able to settle in for a nice long visit.
santa barbara mission
I’ve written before about our friends the Jameses and their boys. Any visit we have with them is sure to be filled with lots of food, fun and laughter. And always way too short. We began our trip back up to Idaho the morning after an over indulgent Thanksgiving!
afternoon at the park
The whole time we were in San Diego, we were still trying to secure a rental in Idaho. And no dice. It became increasingly frustrating, especially after we arrived in the area and saw one rental that was, well, lets just say the Craigslist photos were very deceiving! After three more hotel nights, we were finally able to move into our little apartment here in Moscow, ID. We’ve been so busy looking for a rental and moving in that we’ve barely been able to explore town. Hopefully I’ll have more to share from Moscow next week! Have a fabulous weekend, Artsies!
If you’d like to see more photos from our trip and from This Artsy Life, follow me on Instagram!
I love the warm glow of window light at night. In fact, when I lived alone, I used to put my lights on timers so that I came home at night to a welcoming glowing light. In his Homes at Night series, photographer Todd Hido focuses his lens on the glow of evening abodes.
There is a strange phenomenon that happens in the dark of night. Some things become softer, more welcoming in the night, while others take on a more oppressive, sinister air. Hido’s work strikes me as having elements of both, making me wonder what is going on beyond those lit windows. Warmth and laughter? Loneliness and despair? I love the ambiguity of these photographs. Each one seems to be the beginning of a story.
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